Twenty Indian firms including RIL, Infosys and Bharti Airtel are among the 100 'global challengers' that are not only reshaping their respective industries but are also outpacing established players from the West, according to the Boston Consulting Group.

According to a report 'BCG Global Challengers 2013', released globally today, these 100 companies from the emerging markets are outshining household names in the US and Europe and are having a "profound impact on the global economy".

These 100 companies are from 17 countries including China, Brazil, Chile, Egypt and South Africa. Besides, firms from Colombia and Qatar joined the list for the first time.

The list has 30 companies from China followed by India (20), Brazil (13), Mexico (seven), Russia (six) South Africa (5).

The study said in the past five years, these companies have added 1.4 million jobs, while employment at the non-financial S&P 500 index constituents stayed flat.

These challengers average revenue was at USD 26.5 billion in 2011, compared to USD 21 billion for the S&P 500's non-financial firms and USD 20 billion for the entire S&P 500.

Tata Chemicals, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Tata Steel are among the 20 Indian firms in the list.